Connecticut western news., 1887-01-05
THE BATTLE OF BULL RUN.
A CONGRBSSMAN'S ACCOUNT OF
 THE FEDERAL FLIGHT.

A Few Prominent Men Make the
 Fleeing Soldiers Turn-The Story
 of an Eye Witness. t
 A New York Star reprcse atative has interviewed Hon. A, c. Riddle, of Wash ington, about his partic.p pation in tnc battle of BuH Run. "I was in Congress at the time" said MT. Riddle, "and the reason went to the battle was this: The Cleveland Grays, commanded by General Mcdowell Nc Hook, were at the front, and were the finest company i'll the finest regiment ot the<ent;re nrn,y. l had promised to 20 to4hc frontnud join them in their first battle, anl In pursuance of this promise, two carriage loads of us, Knowing that there was to be . fight on that memorable Sunday, left Washing ton about 3 o'clock in the morning to see it."
 "Who were in the party7' "Therc were Senators Chandler ahd Wade, Congre smcn Blake, Morris aud myself, all from Chio; Mi. Brown, the Sergcnnt-at Arms of the Senate; Ma or Eaton of Michigan. friend of Mir. Chaudler's, and Tom Brown of the Treas ury Department, friend of MT. Wade's. We got breakfast at Fairfax Courc House, and reached the Headquarters of the army at Ccntreville about daylight, pro- vided With passes from General St ott that would take us everywhere. At Centreville founl that tho Grays were in the advance ol the skirmish line, and, of course could not join then, as had hoped and expected. However, we left our teams at a temporary hospital near Ccntfeville and went on, walking into the line of battle. After awhile, when we supposed the battle was over, we went back to the hospital, whero we had left the teams, thinking that tko Union sroops had been victorious, ard there found several hundred soldicrs, stragglers, gathered around.
 "Well, as l said, we supposed that the battle was over and our troops sue cessful, and were doing what We could 10 assist the wounded, when to our great surprise, a splendid column of the ia mcus Black Horse Cavalry, of which you have read so much, came charging down upon us. At first we supposed they were our troops, but soon saw they were rebels, ahd made rush for big, stout sis-rail Virginia fence ncaf by. \ good many who had guns and revolvcrs whipped them out, and as the cavalry stopped and poured volley into us we returned it with some viger and eTee t, for as they rode off after that first vol icy, we could see several riderless horses Young McCook, brother of the Gen was killed by their fire among others on our side. Well, a,tho gh the Black Horse Cavalry disappeared as suddenly as they caihe, every than around the hos pital who could move his legs became panic stricken instantly, and stampeded. In minute the place was deserted by all except our party, and we then got into ouf carriages and started toward Washih ton.
 '.As We moved along the woods on each side of the road appeared to empty themselves of soldiers, who were all run. ming as fast as they could, and pretty soon the road became b.eckadcd by teahis, armS wa ,ons, fiderless horses, wounde men; cannon and everything that had the power of motion, all pulling and hauling and shc utin,r, and c,imbin over one another, in the greatest excite ment and confusion. Soldiers were throwing away their guas, the.r knap sacks, and unloading themselves fur ii ht. Ari1iy teamsters were cutting their horses loose rom the wa .ons, ar. tillery men were Co;ng the same, and you never saw and no one can ina zine { wilder or more bewilderiny spectacle. Everybody seemed to have gone crazy. ''I saw little drusnIner boy who had got under the feet ofSof omehorses, and after much difficulty, extricated him and | put him on the box of our carriage, whicf | by that time, was loaded down with bs 5fsaie}1ts,asa pfdiers, trying to get away from the battle. We turned them all off and the newspapers aftsrward said tha we refused to assist wounded men. Tha was ono of the charges de agains' | me.
 'In the crowd I saw E. P. Washburne of Illinois, and Congressman Shanks, O Indiana, with their hats off, trying tt rally the men and persuade the soldiers | to turn back and do their duty. But i hal fio effect whatever The whole mas: of men were like lot of frightened cat tie, and seemed to think of nothing bu l getting to some place of safety, and tho whole crowd, which was growing larger and larger until it numbered severa thousands, would have run as far as l Washington had not Mir. Wade aud Mir | Chandler, who werc in their carriage ahead of us, got out and stopped them 'When we were ab put a mile iron Fairfax we saw Senator Henry Wilson drive by alone in a light buggy, an6 | called to him. He told us to hurry on as the rebels were oning. Then we saw Mir. Wade and MT. Chandler get ou with their rifles. I asked them wha they were going to do, and Mir. Wade replied that they were going to stop tn runlways.' We alighted with them, ant talk ng guns we had picked up on tn, roadside, or revolve~s that we had take1 with us, the eight of Us stretched acros the road and forbade any man to pass The flying men saw that we were in ear nest, and Mir. Wade and MT. Chandler used some strong language to bring then to their senses.
 "Old Ben stood in the middle O. th, road with his hat on the back of his hea and his ri.e in his hand, and said h, would shoot the first man who attemptc( U run any further. MT. Chandler wa very much excited. His face was pal and his eyes were bloodshot, and in hi hand he had big navy revolver, whicl he was brandishing in the air, whil shouting to the ranic-strickcn soldier that they were a lot of fcols and towards and could not retreat any further unles they went over his dead body. The res of us did what we could, and in a fev moments we had the crowd at bay.
 '.The only man who passed us was [ soldier bearing dispatches from Genera Mcdowell to General Scott at Washing ton and we would not let him go unti
 we found out what his errand wal 4
 teamster, who Lad cut a horse loos
 from an army wagon, and was riding
 him with the harness on, accidentall,
 fired his revolver, and the shot, which
 could hear as it passed me. took effec